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College
Prep
How to Strive for a Top College
BY DAVE PETERSON
© Copyright 1998
by Parents' Press
Photo by Skjold
Photographs, all
rights reserved
More than 2,000 fully accredited colleges in the U.S. can give you a great background for a career or graduate school but hordes of kids every year feel they must only attend the Famous Few. So admission at these golden gates is crunchy, iffy, and often highly subjective and unpredictable.
Let's look at the drill, starting with this overview:
Good news! Preparation for a top college is the same as for any other college, and that's the same as preparation for life itself. It's a matter of quantity and quality, not difference.
Bad news! The top campuses take about 1% of each year's high school grads, or about one-tenth of the qualified applicants. If you don't make the final cut, you should know that there's more...
Good news! Your efforts will admit you to some terrific places where you are bound to be happier, can avoid the misery of competing with the Invincibles, be completely challenged and enjoy the confidence that you can meet the challenge.
Never lose sight of our motto: "The college that is best for you is the one that best fits you!
Now let's cut to the chase: Who are you?
You
are a very strong student, bright and motivated.
You
are also versatile, achieving well outside the classroom.
You
are a strong character whose values include a desire for leadership,
now and in your career.
You
want a top college to help you develop that leadership through
challenges and hard work, not for the ego boost that a prestige
bumpersticker will give!
Heeding the Three Cs
These colleges want one type of student: a future "leader" with noteworthy potential to impact our society in a chosen field. Leadership may be in arts or academics, research or discovery, media or medicine, law or religion, business or government.
Preparing for this college is the same as preparing for any college, or for a fulfilling life even without college. You can't go wrong following, every day of the year all through high school, what we call the Three Cs:
CURRICULUM. Show
your unusual academic promise by meeting these expectations:
Rank above
the top 10% every year; honors grades in all courses.
Course groups,
the highest offered; several AP test scores of 4s and 5s.
Teacher reference
letters on file, lauding your academic talents and intellectual
"fire."
SAT I and
II scores averaging near or over 700 each by grade 12.
Note! Your academics are basic; no stardom reached in categories below will compensate for scholarly gaps!
CHARACTER. You reveal in action, not words, highly developed
and respected personal qualities such as:
Integrity: You inspire loyalty and admiration from others
in your leadership roles.
Personality: You
are sensitive to others' needs and show helpfulness reliably.
Service: You
regularly and eagerly give time and effort to assist others.
Values: Your ideals and standards
are practiced daily, not merely talked about. You are what you
do!
Versatility: You
strive for well-rounded, balanced development as you grow.
CONTRIBUTABILITY. You combine talent, motivation and hard work, leading to a uniquely strong accomplishment in one or two areas that the college will value as a contribution to campus life and culture. This might be academic, cultural, artistic, athletic or leadership-related.
Developing this Strong Suit or "hook" includes:
Initiative: You
are a self-starter who develops your own talents and goals.
Dedication: You
display will power, self discipline, energy and achievement.
You show a real commitment to excel in some mature area of endeavor.
Creativity: Your
working style shows uniqueness, independence of spirit, willingness
to take risks and explore new direction a freedom from
"comfortable conformity" regarding the area you choose
or the way you attack it.
Note! We're not talking activity lists, join-ups, or that dreaded non-word, "involvement." We are talking true achievement, public service, and personal development.
Caution!
Are you tempted to side-step these real challenges, to look for shortcuts? Beware! Finagles, gimmicks and games not only do nothing for your own development, they won't get you into Fancy Name College either. And even if they did, you would be enrolling under false pretenses, destined for life of struggle, sadness and transfer.
Go!
You know what you must do. You desperately want to do it. But when? The answer is, starting now and continuing daily, even hourly.
Your academic challenges are outlined above, so let's focus now on the other two Cs:
Remember, you are in academic classes for only six hours of each 24, and for only 180 days, or half the year. Almost 88% of your time is up to you to invest in yourself and in the ways you feel will benefit you and others the most.
Let's divide your time simply, into days spent in school and out, and offer some suggestions for how to proceed.
School Days
After class, give priority to efforts that relate to cultural or intellectual things. Not mere club attendance or office-holding - we're talking real, documentable accomplishment.
And your non-academic achievements must similarily be real, substantial, and when appropriate, competitive and referenced by letters from authorities. Where these can be sampled with tapes, videos, portolios or news clippings, so much the better.
Here are some other criteria that may help:
These
should relate to an area where the contribution can continue
meaningfully even on a competitive college campus. Examples:
violin, not guitar; hurdles, not skateboards; debate, not dressage.
You should
persevere to a high level of achievement, so colleges can safely
assume you can and will compete well even in their highly talented
setting. Here's where initiative, dedication, creativity and
energy come in!
To be more specific, this summary of goals may help, as you develop your Strong Suit:
Documentation:
items in your file with facts about
your performance.
Leadership: proven
experience helping others and organizing group efforts.
Creativity: doing
something unique or different in the chosen area.
Service: "doing
something for nothing" volunteer efforts eagerly pursued.
Focus: on
just one or two Strong
Suits; no need to "spread
yourself too thin."
Non-School Days
Half the year! Careful planning, budgeting of time and selection of growth opportunities make all the difference, as many of your buddies, "exhausted" from their school days, spend these huge blocks of time idly. Even weekends and short holidays offer great chances to grow in different ways.
We're taking all four years of high school. Any summer or long holiday not spent meaningfully should be carefully justified to the college in ways it will find valid.
For ideas about valuable ways to spend summer time, see College Prep: What you do this summer can help you get into college.
COLLEGE PREP
Dave Peterson's unique
guide to choosing the college that's best for you, and optimizing
your chances of getting admitted.
Dave Peterson's unique guide to choosing the college that's best for you, and optimizing your chances of getting admitted.
Dave Peterson
is a college counselor, a former college admissions officer and
a consultant to the College Board. He used to run the "old"
America Online/College Board college admissions message boards
under the screen name of CBD Dave.
Look for a new
article each month.
And
here's a link to past College Prep articles.
Bullets courtesy
of
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